And just how much is enough?
I weigh 170 and am 6' tall.  Some people have told me I should be eating as much as 250 grams of protein.  Is this right?  If so, I don't see how the hell you do it.  Here's what I ate today:
7AM cereal bar & yogurt
9AM cottage cheese
Noon tuna sandwhich w/ cheee, chips, cookie (don't laugh)
3PM 30 gram protein bar
8PM half a rotisserie chicken and 8 oz of potato salad


So, I figure this is about 100 grams of protein?
6  g cereal bar
10 g yogurt
12 g cottage cheese
15 g tuna
5  g cheese
30 g protein bar
5  g potato salad
40 g chicken

123 total grams of protein

I need to double this?  How the fuck am I supposed to do that?  I spend most of my day full now, if I eat any more I won't have room for all the water I'm supposed to be drinking.  I could see maybe eating dinner earlier and throwing in a 30 gram protein shake around 9, but that's about it.  Fill me in on how I'm supposed to ingest all this extra protein.

Isopure, is that a brand or something?  I use the Next Nutrition Designer Whey bars & shake mix, is this good stuff?

For the math-challenged, that's just about the same as your weight in pounds. No need to divide by 2.2 then multiply by 2.  [;)]

norman74, from what I've seen 1 gram per pound of body weight is more than enough for most people.  I did that for years and made modest gains.  I started making much better gains when I bumped it up to 350 g (about 1.5g per pound of body weight).  That would be a waste for most people, but you might want to try it for a short time to see how you react.

To get my 350 grams, I eat two cans of tuna, four scoops of whey (at 27g per scoop), a pound of hamburger, a pound of dark meat from a different source, four eggs, a pound of cheese, half-pound of nuts, and a half gallon of milk plus anything else I can get my hands on.  Like I said, bumping-up my protein has helped me make progress.  The only downside is that (sorry to get gross) is that I haven't had a solid bowel movement in about three months.  I haven't figured-out yet how to fix that problem.z

I'm starting to wonder why I even post here.  Every post I make is followed by someone telling me I'm wrong. [:)]

brasspile, the best way to build muscle is NOT by using a low carb diet and only eating 150 grams of protein a day.  That's really not even enough for the average person trying to loose weight.  It's really pretty simple.  In order to grow, calories consumed must be greater than calories used every day.  150 grams of protein a day and few carbs a day isn't even close to 1500 cal.  Unless his metabolism is unusually slow, there is no way a 6' tall 170 lbs man will grow on such few cal/day.  He's not seeing improvements in his workouts now and a big reason why is because he's not eating enough.

norman74, trust me, if you start eating more you'll see improvements.  Start eating every 3 hours.  Don't try to jump to eating 250 grams per day in one day.  It takes time for you body to get used to the added calories.  Just eat a little more every day until you get there.  I'm eating 300 grams of protein, 600 grams of carbs, and about 100 grams of fat per day, so I know it's possible.  And that actually isn't filling me up, so I'll probably add 500 cal/day next week.  Also, don't leave out the carbs.  You should aim for about 550 grams of carbs per day.  You should never get hungry and you should always feel full, that's the best way from preventing your body from going into a catabolic state.  If your body knows there's plenty of food available, it will grow.  And avoid supplements/weight gainers/protein shakes.  Eat real food.  It's much better.  Oh, and one more thing.  The protein you see on the nutrition label from the cereal bar and the potato salad probably doesn't have a complete amino acid profile, so you shouldn't count it.  Only count protein grams from chicken, turkey, pork, beef, fish, eggs, and dairy.

Christ!  So basically double my food budget?  I don't think I can AFFORD to "get big". There is alot better stuff I can think of to spend my money on.
Incidentally, I have a super high metabolism.  I don't sit still.  As I sit here typing this I'm bouncing my leg.  When I've tried eating lots and lots, I just wind up shitting it out.  I'm no doctor, but I think my metabolism is just too damn high.  I digest food faster than most dieticians tell me is scientifically possible.  I used to tell people I had no small intestine, that's the only explanation I've come up with for the way I digest food.

Proper nutrition and enough rest are just as important as lifting weights.  If any one of the three is lacking, you won't see very good results.

LOL...brasspile, you weigh 200lbs and are eating 300g/day, but you think 100g/day is enough for someone who weighs 170lbs.[:D]  That doesn't make much sense.

brasspile, this probably would have made more sense to you if it all stayed on one thread.  [url=http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=1&f=113&t=187202]Here's the first part.[/url]

I was just giving you a hard time.  You don't have to defend yourself.[:)]

Not your fault.  We'll blame norman74 for that one.[:)]

... one word, [b]Ketosis[/b]

Yes, blame me.  I didn't want to hijack my own other thread with a debate on the finer points of stuffing myself.

And that is a good word.  I lost 40 pounds the summer before I turned 66 by staying in ketosis about four days a week for three months.  It was a lot of work staying below 20 grams of carbohydrates per day, but it paid-off.z

I assume that you are looking to get bigger. I would try and consume 1-1.5g. of protein per day.

Eat a lot of chicken, tuna, and protein powder.

Spread your meals out throughout the day, eating six times or so. I try to eat every three hours. Devide up your protein requirement so that you take in 1/6th of your daily goal per meal and you are all set.

It is really not that bad once you get acustom to it.

I'm guessing you mean per pound of body weight?  Otherwise 1g of protein is going to be hard to do.

Did you ever see the movie, "Cool Hand Luke"?

You could eat eggs like he did!

Any of you guys read Michael Colgan's book called Optimum Sports Nutrition?  It has been out for many years.  He writes about what he considers the optimum diet for three types of athletes.  The power lifter, the strength/edurance sports like rock climbing and cross country skiing, and the endurance sports likes running and cycling.

Each different type of sport requires a different balance between protein and carbs.  Keep in mind each individual will find it helpful to modify their diet to fine tune it for best results.

I started years ago in lifting and ate up to 150 grams a day of protein.  I bulked up to only 150 pounds at my biggest, but I did have 6% body fat and lots of strength for me. I am 5'8" with small bones, so this was a good strength to weight ratio.

Now I do the strength/endurance training with around 120 grams of protein a day. I am down to 140 with 7-8% body fat.  It's all I can do, and work a real job, and play on the weekends.  Plus being 52 my age is starting to show with more injuries caused from heavy lifting or long endurance activities.

I learned a long time ago that what works for me may not work the same for another guy.  I have trained along side of many guys who have great strength, endurance, and skills and all have different diets and training routines.

What I find helps me with the high protein is taking two protein shakes a day.  I mix some fruit juice that is diluted way down, with some Silk soy milk, and about 25 grams of protein powder.  I use one in the mid morning around 11 am and the other at night before bed.  I too believe in the 5-6 small meals a day routine.  

The rule of low blood sugar governs all of us.  If I eat every few hours I can keep my blood sugar levels high and get lots of energy.

Getting a good nine hours of sleep helps build the muscles.  

I recommend you read Colgan's book.  It is well worth it's weight in gold.

Larry

A newbie!
Welcome to the forum!

I stopped  counting grams about 3 years ago.

It is just second nature to me now.  Eat 20-30 grams of protien every 2-3 hours.  I'm always eating protien-rich foods, it is a way of life.

Here's a tip, free of charge: buy one of those rotisary chickens from Walmart and stick it in the fridge.  Nibble on it throughout the week for a snack.  Peel off the skin if you're a fat body.  Wala!  Easy, quick, high protien snack.

In my experience, the guys who get all technical and nit-picky about their diet and suuplements, etc., etc., don't work hard/smart enough in the gym to benefit from it anyway.

No way could I get one of those to last all week.  I usually eat the whole thing less than 3 hours after I buy it.  Those things are good.

One thing to consider is that actual protein food (chicken, etc.) uses more calories to digest - i.e. "burn - than supplements like whey powder.

I'm using IDS Multi-Pro Whey Isolate with water to supplement a weight loss program, but mixed with milk it increases your protein, carbs, and calories.

1 scoop = Calories 106
Total Fat less than 1g 0%
Saturated Fat less than 1g 0%
Cholesterol 5mg 0%
Sodium 12mg 2%
Total Carbohydrates 3g 0%
Dietary Fiber 0g 0%
Sugar 1.5g 0%
Protein 23g  

The vanilla and chocolate flavors are very tasty, and you can find it for under $17 for 2 lbs. on the Internet

Full?

add egg whites to your water!

[url]http://www.goodegg.com/protein.html[/url]

Nutrition Facts:

1 tablespoon of Dried Egg White Powder is 5.5 grams of protein.

2 tablespoons is 11 grams of protein.

1 cup of Dried Egg White Powder is 88 grams of protein.



5 grams of protein is 10% of the RDA of Protein.

1 teaspoon of powder + 6 teaspoons of water = 1 egg white

1 lb dry whites = whites of approx. 116 eggs

10 lbs dry egg whites = whites of approx. 1,160 eggs